A welcome invitation

[the hitman]

Having been in the pigeon shooting wilderness recently and not really finding time to have a decent recce of my permissions - a call last night from an old shooting friend inviting me out - was greeted with a solid yes.

He had spotted a good flightline but was unsure where they were heading so a recce was required- which soon identified a field of rape stubble on his permission.

Hides up and decoys out by 1pm - a good S/Westerly was blowing and birds were moving but not really committed to the decoys, however I killed the first 3 that came in - and the magnet was brought into play.

We were picking away and getting a few- but a stronger flightline was crossing the field 200 yards away and exiting over a line of hardwoods. After 30 mins I could resist no more and with a belt of 25 shells I headed off and settled in behind a bale which was perfectly placed in the shade about 6ft from the trees. The birds where coming at me like driving pheasant and the shooting was brisk - only issue was the mass of brambles and a standing barley field behind me which made retrieving birds behind impossible so I was trying to shoot everything so it would fall on the stubble- not easy when they are flying so high and fast .

My 25 shells were gone in 30 mins with 13 picked and 5 lost- all the time my friend was picking away. I left my 13 out as decoys and changed places with my friend as I was aware that I had had most of the shooting.

I was back in the original hide and continued to shoot some lovely overhead shots which fell on the stubble behind, including one particular high pigeon which was very surprised to see fall - all the while I could see birds falling followed by the shot coming from behind the bale. 
 

We called it a day at 5pm as my friend had a family dinner appointment - so the bag was 51 with at least 10 lost.

It was so nice to be back in the hide and the bag was a welcome bonus.

[Scully]

Sounds like a good day. It’s great to be out, even in this heat. 

[Ultrastu]

Excellent report 

And just goes to show a move of position can be a good idea .

[marsh man]

Excellent report and results hitman , after your worries of late with your mother and lack of time to survey your perm it make it all the better when a invite come out of the Blue.

This have been a very strange Summer for Pigeon shooting , it started back in the Spring when the land was already dry before planting began , I can well remember when our Peas were direct drilled in very dry conditions , I kept an eye on them and it took weeks before they came above ground , even when they did they still didn't look that good , this dry weather went on and off throughout the duration of growth , when they started to combine the fields of Peas for seed they made a start and then stopped because some of the seed was still Green and last weekend they finally got them all off , Good news for the pigeon shooter as quite a lot of seed was lost.

I looked around on both Thursday and Friday to find a decent field for the farm foreman to take his boy for an afternoons decoying yesterday , all our straw bales are now off and there are only a few Pigeons on the odd field so not really good enough, as they would be restricted to the hedgerow's only and very little action .

I then moved on to the rape stubble's and bingo , this is where they were , this was strange as well  , normally the Rape seed the pigeons eat have a very short window before it Green up and they move onto the late Spring wheat and barley stubble's , as we haven't had a drop of rain for weeks the seed is still as good as the day it was cut which was now about three weeks ago .

I had already looked at the rape stubble's and decided to give it a miss as for some reason the stems that are left are like fiber glass rods and I didn't fancy letting my dog running through that and getting stabbed in the face or belly , so since it was cut it have been left alone .

So the number one stubble at the moment on our perm is Rape .

Good Luck if you go again , and I hope your mother is getting on nicely   MM

[Spr1985]

Great report hitman, good to see friends getting out together and having a good days shooting 👌🏻

[the hitman]

4 hours ago, marsh man said:

Excellent report and results hitman , after your worries of late with your mother and lack of time to survey your perm it make it all the better when a invite come out of the Blue.

This have been a very strange Summer for Pigeon shooting , it started back in the Spring when the land was already dry before planting began , I can well remember when our Peas were direct drilled in very dry conditions , I kept an eye on them and it took weeks before they came above ground , even when they did they still didn't look that good , this dry weather went on and off throughout the duration of growth , when they started to combine the fields of Peas for seed they made a start and then stopped because some of the seed was still Green and last weekend they finally got them all off , Good news for the pigeon shooter as quite a lot of seed was lost.

I looked around on both Thursday and Friday to find a decent field for the farm foreman to take his boy for an afternoons decoying yesterday , all our straw bales are now off and there are only a few Pigeons on the odd field so not really good enough, as they would be restricted to the hedgerow's only and very little action .

I then moved on to the rape stubble's and bingo , this is where they were , this was strange as well  , normally the Rape seed the pigeons eat have a very short window before it Green up and they move onto the late Spring wheat and barley stubble's , as we haven't had a drop of rain for weeks the seed is still as good as the day it was cut which was now about three weeks ago .

I had already looked at the rape stubble's and decided to give it a miss as for some reason the stems that are left are like fiber glass rods and I didn't fancy letting my dog running through that and getting stabbed in the face or belly , so since it was cut it have been left alone .

So the number one stubble at the moment on our perm is Rape .

Good Luck if you go again , and I hope your mother is getting on nicely   MM

MM the situation with stubble is much the same locally with rape stubble the preferred choice.

Last summer I had a couple of good days on pea stubble- unfortunately all harvested and ploughed in 48hrs this year.

September can be a good month for cereal stubbles provided the plough is kept away for at least a couple of weeks.

Mum is now a care home resident which was the only option- she is happy, safe & being looked after, which is all we wanted. I live a five minute walk from the care home so she is seeing plenty of me- and thank you for enquiring.

 

[pigeon controller]

Great report, well done.

[Fellside]

Well done hitman, enjoyed reading about your pigeoning, especially those high ‘driven’  ones. A favourite shot for me.

Glad to hear your mum is settled.